1959 World Series
The Dodgers won in six games to earn the second championship in their history and their first since moving to Los Angeles from Brooklyn the season before.
This was the first World Series played on the West Coast, outside Major League Baseball's traditional territory that stretched from Boston to Washington, D.C., in the East and to St. Louis in the Midwest from 1876 through 1955, which ended when the Philadelphia Athletics moved to Kansas City.
A West Coast World Series had become a possibility only a year before, when the Dodgers and the Giants relocated to Los Angeles and San Francisco (from Brooklyn and Manhattan, respectively) prior to the 1958 season.
This was the only World Series to be played in the City of Chicago between the Cubs' loss in 1945 and the White Sox win in 2005.
The Dodgers won their first National League pennant since moving from Brooklyn after the 1957 season by defeating the Milwaukee Braves (another franchise that had relocated from their original city, Boston, in 1953[1]) 2–0 in a best-of-three tie breaker series.
It was the first championship for a West Coast team, and it was the first World Series in which no pitcher for either side pitched a complete game.
in home runs but led the league in stolen bases, fielding percentage, and lowest team ERA.
They battled the Cleveland Indians for the American League pennant, and after a close race, the White Sox built a 6+1⁄2 game lead in early September.
NL Los Angeles Dodgers (4) vs. AL Chicago White Sox (2) Historic Comiskey Park hosted a crowd of 48,103 that included Hollywood's Joan Crawford and Orson Welles and former Illinois governor Adlai Stevenson, the 1952 and 1956 Democratic presidential candidate for president.
Then RBI doubles by Al Smith and Early Wynn and fielder's choice by Jim Rivera aided by two more errors made it 9–0 White Sox.
During a Sox uprising in the eighth against Larry Sherry, Al Smith doubled to left with two men on, cutting the lead to 4–3.
Drysdale allowed two singles and Larry Sherry hit a batter to load the bases with no outs in the eighth, but gave up just a run on Al Smith's double play.
The Dodgers got that run back in the bottom half when Maury Wills hit a leadoff single off of Gerry Staley and scored on Charlie Neal's double.
The Sox tied the game in the seventh on Ted Kluszewski's RBI single with two on followed by Sherm Lollar socking a three-run home run, but Gil Hodges blasted one over the fence in the next inning off of Gerry Staley to give the Dodgers a 5–4 lead, then Larry Sherry pitched a scoreless ninth to put the Dodgers a win away from the World Series championship.
The victory in Game 5 gave the Sox hope, heading back home to a "real ballpark," as opposed to L.A.'s converted football stadium.
Starter Podres was also knocked out in the fourth by Chicago's last gasp, another towering three-run home run by the hottest Sox hitter, Ted Kluszewski, after a walk and hit-by-pitch.
Relief pitcher Larry Sherry was voted Most Valuable Player of the Series after finishing with a 2–0 record, two saves, five strikeouts, and a 0.71 ERA, allowing only one earned run off eight hits in 122⁄3 innings pitched.
Larry Sherry of the Dodgers was the fifth consecutive pitcher to win the World Series Most Valuable Player Award (in only the fifth year it was awarded), following Johnny Podres (Brooklyn, 1955), Don Larsen (New York, 1956), Lew Burdette (Milwaukee, 1957), and Bob Turley (New York, 1958).
Although he was not voted MVP, Dodger second baseman Charlie Neal batted .370 for the Series, and his two-homer performance in Game 2 came after Chicago's pitching had held L.A. scoreless for 13 consecutive innings.
This was the last World Series to host the final World Series games of both its host venues until 2003, as the original Yankee Stadium closed following the 2008 Major League Baseball season and the Florida Marlins moved out of Sun Life Stadium after the 2011 season.
